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Did anyone saw the footage of a buzzard chick being ringed by the RSPB on countryfile yesterday. Countryfile is a BBC program for the UK and closeby countries and deals with countryside issues- available to watch on iplayer- minute 14.

Is it normal or good practice to ring buzzard chicks and then weigh them by dangling them from one leg? it looked pretty bad on TV- disrespectful and potentially damaging to the bird- more so than hanging in a soft bag to be weighed anyway.

The ringing that i have seen and done was always respectful and the birds carefully weighed. i would be interested in other raptor handlers' perspective

I'm not a ringer but did see the article and thought at the time that the handling looked a little wrong but I guess the people doing it have the experience required but I say again it did look strange

As a ringer I wouldn't get behind that behaviour, especially on tv. A large bird should be weighed in a large bag and have the bag's weight subtracted. Not as exciting viewing but a darn sight better for the bird.

On this occasion I would say the BBC were unlikely to have asked for such a thing to be done specifically for the camera, though I still suspect that that disastrous cannon-netting catch of one (rather than hundreds of) brent goose on Autumnwatch in 2010 was down to the BBC really wanting the trigger pulled there and then.